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Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#311

Post by intpx »

heimatau wrote: post #218
sibeliuss wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> withdrawing from them isn't bad either Perhaps for you, but for others its a nightmare.

> but for others its a nightmare. I can only assume one of two reasons: 1. They were on XR. 2. Abuse. If it's another reason, maybe the formulation isn't the best for them because it's highly unlikely to have a 'nightmare' problem with getting off.

I'm on a very low dose of lisdexamfetamine and i freaking haaaaate missing a dose. As I understand it, it is a precursor of dextroamphetamine and your body converts it into it slowly through a metabolic-like process-- so pretty similar to XR but less of a saw-tooth curve throughout the day and more of a single sine curve. I wouldn't call it a nightmare, but it sometimes feels like one. It is really a miracle drug for me in terms of letting me let myself comply to external demands on my attention and order my life.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#312

Post by _dibly »

ditonal wrote: post #149
acituan wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we don't start giving children coffee at younger ages to help focus > we are inhibiting our full potential because of misplaced fears? I'll argue with the assumption that there is zero long term psychobiological consequences to exogenous psychostimulants (I personally don't buy this, but let's assume it was true). Increasing focus and task salience is only one of the many factors constitutive of human potential. Th…

Feels like every week someone here is touting the idea of ADHD meds being this solution, all these people are just undiagnosed, there’s an unfair stigma against, and I feel compelled to bring up that I bought into that thinking, got a legit diagnosis and took meds as prescribed, they triggered mania in me and nearly ruined my life. I tick all the ADHD boxes but I managed to make it through college without meds so nev…

I mean comments like this are the reason there's such a stigma against medication. It's kind of ignorant to say that "psychiatry is broken", "my meds ruined my life", or "I made it through school without them so I never needed them" as if none of those things had anything to do with you.

Someone in the same situation might feel much the opposite, but they also shouldn't use their experience to convince people that their attempt at treating a condition they have is inherently a bad choice.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#313

Post by _dibly »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #37
_dibly wrote: post #7

This was an interesting read but, as an adult with ADHD, all I get out of this is that medication is even more of a benefit to those with real difficulties coping with their ADHD. I've always been one to 'just deal with it' but after a few years of working through school and seeing my younger brothers go through the same thing with medication, I realized that I was essentially just handicapping myself. Now I take med…

> I've always been one to 'just deal with it' but after a few years of working through school and seeing my younger brothers go through the same thing with medication, I realized that I was essentially just handicapping myself. That's not entirely true, though. There is a lot of value in learning good habits to cope with ADHD and developing systems and mental models to improve your ADHD situation. ADHD isn't a purely…

>One of the downsides of aggressive ADHD medication treatment is that it can handicap learning of good habits and coping strategies

I mean, my entire post was actually saying the opposite. One of the biggest downsides of having ADHD is the way it handicaps learning of good habits and life skills. I tried doing exactly what you describe in high school and the result was constantly failing to do extracurricular work and being branded as lazy by my peers and educators. There are a lot of comments in this thread on both sides of the argument that seem to take personal anecdote too far. My honest advice continues to be that medication is a great tool for those who need it, and therapy is something pretty much everyone should experience.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#314

Post by _dibly »

burntoutfire wrote: post #77
_dibly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Growing up I was perscribed ritalin, however I stopped taking it within a few months because my middle-school brain was not enjoying the side-effects (mostly drowsiness). Now I'm perscribed Adderall and it works great. It can be annoying because every college student under the sun is taking adderall to cram last minute but it's a different drug when you actually need it to function. For most people Adderall just keep…

> I can focus on my work all day with no medication if I'm doing something that I find personally interesting. However, when I have a week's worth of online coursework and boring bookkeeping to do it's impossible to get more than 5 minutes done without staring out the window, putting something on in the background, and twiddling my thumbs. I can still buckle down and get work done without it, but it's so much more me…

I often wonder what kind of impulse drives someone to think, believe, and then confront others with their insanely regressive opinions. At least today I have a concrete answer.

In case you're still confused, there's this thing called the DSM that people use to diagnose/classify mental disorders. It's a pretty big deal.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#315

Post by _dibly »

sizzle wrote: post #269

A big middle finger to my ~top 20 public university who wouldn't give me any accommodations of extra time because they required some ridiculous hoops to jump through proving I had trouble concentrating and finishing an exam in the allotted time, they wanted substantial documentation with brain scans showing I had a deficit all because ADHD isn't considered a bonafide disability by the government. I almost flunked out…

I'm in community college, but my experience in high school was basically identical to yours. High school and the beginning of college were a nightmare for me for essentially the same reasons you describe. I still feel like I'm shaking off some kind of imposter syndrome when I'm interviewing for a new client. Students used to seethe when my test scores were read because, despite testing top of the class I never did any extracurricular work or engaged in class very much. Eventually even the teachers started to treat me like a burnout. I'd start a new semester and the teacher would already know who I was from chatting in the teachers' lounge. At least in community college the student/faculty pool is wide enough that I can avoid those types of interactions, plus the switch to computer science and some decent ADHD meds have made all the difference.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#316

Post by Hewlberno »

ravedave5 wrote: post #139
Hewlberno wrote: post #80

I have adhd myself, and I built a NLP tool around working out how well medication is working for me. I'm launching the mvp of it in the next few days if anyone is keen! https://moodmap.app

I tried to get emailed for when it opens and it sent me to a sign up page. The sign up page didn't do anything. No console errors.

Thanks will check it out!

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#317

Post by whimsicalism »

nullsense wrote: post #301
whimsicalism wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my perspective, the thing that has hurt the credibility around ADHD diagnoses is the pretty blatant use by affluent parents to get diagnoses so they can get test-time extensions for their kids. ADHD diagnosis is much more strongly correlated with affluence than many other mental illnesses. Eliminating the 504 accommodation would be beneficial in my view.

>ADHD diagnosis is much more strongly correlated with affluence than many other mental illnesses. Source? My understanding is it is the opposite way around. The lower down the socioeconomic totem pole you go the higher the rates of prevalence of ADHD. Which would make sense given a) it runs in families and b) executive function disorders are correlated with negative life outcomes. I can't imagine it makes you _more_…

I'm on my phone right now, so hard to pull up a source. That said:

> lower down the socioeconomic totem pole you go the higher the rates of prevalence of ADHD.

The key word in my original statement was "diagnosis". The rate absolutely seems to increase with lower SES, but diagnosis rate does not reflect that.

Your reasoning for why it is more common among poorer people seems to neglect the significant early environmental factors that might contribute to low SES high adhd prevalence in favor of a rich, genetically superior master-class.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#318

Post by TheLegace »

kossTKR wrote: post #273
TheLegace wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There can be a lot to understand depending on how much change your actually looking for (so much I could write a book). But its just putting EEG electrodes on the skull to record frequency ranges in the brain. These frequencies(Delta, Gamma and Alpha) relate to the "focus", "relaxation"(related to meditation) and "cross-talk" functions of the brain that primarily are controlled by the Sensory-Motor Cortex. There are…

Thank you! Do you have any leads book wise, a certain methodology or a though leader in the field? I think i will try to find a place similar to yours in Scandinavia but want the quality to be right. Alternatively i am thinking if consumer EEG electrodes are good enough at this time to create a personal setup.

Yes the doctor who oversaw my treatment pioneered the treatment and is the thought leader in the field.

You can read her various papers[1]. I've read many things about ADHD and functioning mechanics of the brain. This is by far the most substantive and practical resource of info that I managed to put to go use when I trained my brain.

http://addcentre.com/page-29/page-31/

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#319

Post by kick_in_the_dor »

logicOnly wrote: post #16

Wondering if this is why marijuana makes me insanely productive. Both impact dopamine. It just sucks that I get addicted to weed because I'm super productive. I just need a way to prevent myself from having marijuana before anything social or public.

I'm also wondering the same thing - I take 2.5mg of a sativa-dominant edible and I'm able to focus insanely well. I typically do this after I'm done with my real job for the day so I can study AI, for example to read an AI paper. I typically have much more trouble doing this without THC.

Funny enough, I'm also very prone to anxiety on THC. So there might be a correlation there somewhere.

Re: Adults with ADHD show decreased function in brain dopamine reward pathway (2010)

#320

Post by kick_in_the_dor »

narwally wrote: post #79
iamdbtoo wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has ADHD and is also a heavy marijuana user, I've found the marijuana mostly helps me with the frustration of the ADHD experience. It makes it difficult for the frustration to reach a boiling point and that's what actually makes me productive. Adderall has been WAY more effective at this, though.

Similar experience for me. Marijuana definitely makes me feel stupider, but it slows my brain down enough that I can actually focus on one thing at a time so I actually end up more productive overall. Kind of a worse is better situation. I've found the best combination for me to be XR Adderall with a very low dose of THC. Unfortunately my addictive personality makes not abusing marijuana difficult, so I just don't us…

This is why I choose to take an edible when dosing for studying. Harder to abuse with no instant gratification.
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